Broom-holder.



Patented Sept. 4, 1900.

J. T. MUMFORD.

BROOM HOLDER.

(Appl c 11am, 24 1900 WITNESSES:

(No Model.)

NlllED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES T. MUMFORD, OF OROMIVELL, IOlVA.

BROOM-HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 657,176, dated September 4, 1900. Application filed January 24, 1900. Serial. No. 2,584v No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES T. MUMFORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cromwell, in the county of Union and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Broom-Holders; and I do doclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in devices of the class used for holding brooms, rakes, hoes, and similar implements in a suspended position when not in use; and the objects of my invention are, first, to provide a tool or implement holder of said class which will hold any of such implements suspended by the free end of the handle and still always at the same elevation; second, to provide a blOOHbllOlClGl which may readily be adjusted to hold handles of different diameters, and, third, to provide a broom-holder which may readily be adjusted so as to hold the suspended broom in a more or less inclined position. These and other objects I attain by the novel construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side view of my broom and implement holder shown as secured upon a wall and holding the upper portion of a broomhandle. Fig. 2 is a plan View of the blank from which I preferably make the holder proper. Fig. 3 is a plan View of the blank from which I form the bracket holding the device secured upon a wall or post. Fig. 4 is the blank, Fig. 3, finished by bending the lips 5 at a right angle to the plate. Fig. 5 is the lower portion of the blank, Fig. 2, bent as in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings by reference-numerals, 1 represents a Vertical section of a portion of a wall on which the plate or bracket 2 is secured by the screws or nails 3. Said plate may be cast; but I prefer to stamp it from sheet metal, stamp the hole tthrough it, thus forming the lips 5, which after being provided with the holes 6 for the pin or pivot 7 are bent forward, as in Figs. 1 and 4.

8 is the holder proper and is pivotally mounted, with its loop 9, 011 the pivot 7 to swing vertically upward from the normal position shown in solid lines to the elevated position in dotted lines in Fig. 1. The holder or arm 8 may be cast or formed in various manners; but I prefer stamping it out of band or sheet metal similar to the blank in Fig. 2 and bending its long end upward to form the hook S S S 5 S and the tongue 10 in the aperture 11 is bent upward on a slant, as shown, while the lower end 12 is bent downward at about a right angle with the arm 8 of the holder proper, so as to hold the latter in its normal position (about horizontal) by resting against the plate or bracket.

13 is an adjustment-screw in the arm 12 whereby the arm may be held outward from the plate 2, and thereby change the normal elevation of the holder 8, until the lower end of the suspended implement hangs thedesired distance from the wall. 7

In operation the handle 14 of the broom or other implement to be suspended is inserted upward through the aperture 11 till it touches the upper bar S of the holder, which is thereby raised slightly. The handle is then released from the hand, and as it and the arm 8 settle downward the handle is engaged and held by the frictional contact of the edge 15 of the aperture 11 and the curved end surface 16 of the hook S If the tool is a Very heavy one, then said hook end 16 will spring or yield so that also the end of the tongue 10 will engage the handle. Said tongue 10 also serves to guide the handle clear of the hook 16 as it passes up and down in the aperture, and during the downward movement the tongue also furnishes a smooth surface at its under side for the handle to glide on while it is being pressed toward the wall, so as to thereby hold the arm 8 elevated, as in dotted lines, with its upper portion resting at 18 against the wall.

From the above it will be understood that in removing the handle it is only necessary to grasp it, push upward and toward the wall, and keep it in that position while pulling it downward out of the holder. The holder then falls by its gravity to its normal position, with the arm 12 or its screw 13 resting ICO against the bracket-plate, so that the holder stands in a handy position for inserting the handle the next time, and if a new broom which may have a thicker or thinner handle than the old one is to be inserted its different size of handle need not force it against the wall with the lower end nor cause it to hang too far from the wall, as the holder may be regulated up and down by turning the screw 13. In a cheap grade of the holder said screw 13 may be dispensed with and the holder adjusted by bending both its tongue 10 and its arm 12 and even the arm S Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A holder for suspending brooms and like implements by the free end of the handle, the same consisting of a bracket or plate securable to a wallor other rigid object, a normally horizontally disposed arm pivoted with one end to said plate to swing upward, and havin g an aperture or opening adapted to receive the end of the broom-handle in a vertical position and hold-it by frictional contact when the arm swings partly downward, and a guard above said opening made integral with the swinging arm and adapted to limit the upward movement of the handle and to raise the arm, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. A holder for suspending brooms and similar implements by the free end of the handle, the same consisting of a bracket or plate securable to a wall or other rigid object, a normally horizontally disposed arm pivoted with one end to said plate to swing upward, and having an aperture or space adapted to receive the broom-handle and by frictional contact hold it when the arm swings downward toward its normal position, and a guard limiting the upward passage of the handle, and forming a hook which engages one side of the handle to assist in holding it, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES T. MUM FORD.

Vt itnesses:

SAMUEL Huronmson, BLANoHn DAVISON. 

